I first ran into Tracy K. Smith’s collection Life on Mars through a National Public Radio interview. It fascinated me that there was a poet writing a collection that seemed in the vein of what I want to produce for my thesis, and I immediately ordered it. As an investigation of the human in the face of grief, it is excellent; as an investigation of humanity’s place in the universe, it is a little bit disappointing. While Smith does interrogate a human understanding of life and death, and the process of coming to terms with dying, the collection is much more centered on that issue than the questions I am interested in. These questions aside, there are a couple of poems which question the human locus within the universe, and it is these poems (“Sci-Fi” and “My God, it’s Full of Stars”) I would like to examine more closely here. “Sci-Fi” polishes up the crystal ball and looks into a future of humanity, while “My God, it’s Full of Stars” investigates the question of life elsewhere in the universe, our relationship to it, and concludes with Nietzsche’s abyss staring right back at us. These two particular poems intrigue me because they remain grounded in a perspective from the human-scale viewpoint; it could reasonably be argued that the group of poems I am pursuing currently lacks this perspective. Continue reading ““So brutal and alive it seemed to comprehend us back.””
After Reading Sam Hamill’s “The Necessity to Speak”
As poets, as writers, as humans, we cannot afford to ignore the terrifying injustices that proceed around us every day. It may be complacency which drives the majority of our human peers to continue living as though these terrors were simply nightmares – shadows driven by overactive imagination. Or it may be fear of falling through the cultural systems we have developed to a space in which they cannot ignore these crimes we perpetrate against one another – the systems do not kindly treat outliers. A life constantly confronted and challenged by these things is hard, it’s difficult; and difficulty is one thing we in America have forever striven to delay/decrease/divorce. It is clear that a person constantly confronting this madness may go mad – there are plenty of examples. On the other hand, there are plenty of examples of intentional ignorance which also descend into madness. Continue reading “After Reading Sam Hamill’s “The Necessity to Speak””
You know, I was going to comment in the comments for this article, but HuffPo wants me to sign in with google or facebook or twitter, and I don’t really feel comfortable doing that, so here is my response to this article:
You know, I thought about applying to Cardiff, but the program is only 1 year. Decided more time to slog through both teaching and writing offered an opportunity to get my head straight. US schools it was. Ending up with 21 credits (that’s a year+) of literature courses, 15 credits of workshop courses, 18 credits of thesis/colloquium and 3 credits of teaching university composition.
Also, having edited a couple of lit mags, I can tell you that I at least don’t know your name, or possibly the name you’re dropping, and either way don’t read your bio until after I have decided on the poem. I don’t ever really care who gets snubbed, but you better be sending in some good poems.
In the end I’ve found that reading a lot helps develop the ear, but it’s the writing a lot that develops the voice. Endless writing – critical and creative.
I wanted to leave this where I thought the author might see it, and maybe he’ll see it here…
Thoughts: End-of-Semester Overload
So I’ve spent the last few days trying to forget the near self-implosion of burnout caused by not turning hardly anything in on time this semester.
This was mostly attempted through trying to melt brain cells with vast quantities of entire TV seasons through Netflix, along with ignoring responsibilities such as cleaning the apartment, waking up at any reasonable hour, and eating when any normal person would think to, such as when hunger arises. Alas, I had to resurrect some sense of responsibility today by taking a shower and paying some bills…
This has also brought me around to reading poetry again, which I’ll be posting on again shortly. Look out for thoughts on some of the books on the list.
I’ve also just realized that I now have a two-foot pile of books I have to find a home for. I’m considering giving some of them out to readers here, so keep an eye open.
This Poem for My Wife
This Poem for My Wife
Thanks for reading this, everyone. I’ve taken it down for revision, and because I’m thinking about sending it out after that. I hope you enjoyed!
Reflection on Oliver de la Paz’s Requiem for the Orchard
An Important Announcement on Plagiarism
Oliver de la Paz’s collection, Requiem for the Orchard, relies on two organizing threads throughout. Those are the “Requiem” poems, which originally appeared as one extended poem in Guernica Magazine, and the “Self-Portrait” poems which appeared in various places. De la Paz confronts the construction and obfuscation of identity and self through these two threads of interrogation, and it is important that the collection resolves with the two threads together. Continue reading “Reflection on Oliver de la Paz’s Requiem for the Orchard”
Reflection on Into These Knots
How does one write poetry about grief, or heartache? Allen Ginsburg’s “Howl” and “Kaddish” might be one approach, but it is a rare poet who can operate in the verse-libre and still convey the absolute misery without devolving into melodrama. Many poets resort to form, which forces a constraint upon poems. In the case of Ashley Anna McHugh, the constraint of form has allowed her to explore loss in great detail. Continue reading “Reflection on Into These Knots”
An Important Announcement
I added this in the sidebar pages, but I want to be sure that it’s seen. A link will also go at the top of each new post, just for my own comfort.
I hate to have to do this. Really, I do. However:
Recently, I have noticed that I am receiving searches based on some of the titles I have reflected on. One in particular caught my attention:
is represented by the nostalgia with which she writes about the various food obsessions she had as a child. as many american writers, nguyen writes about her obsession and her family, creating a space in the literary tradition for her multivalent
This quote comes from the reflection on Bich Minh Nguyen’s Stealing Buddha’s Dinner. What this shows me is that there is someone out there (probably for a class of some sort) who copied a significant portion of the text of that reflection (and, in fact, the thesis of that reflection), and his or her professor is checking up on the work turned in.
Some things to keep in mind:
- The work on Poetic Idealism is original and mine.
- Many of these have been turned in as assignments for various graduate English courses.
- The entries are not necessarily of the standard to be used as sources for academic papers (though I’m honored if you think so).
- If you take a chunk of text and do not cite it, that is plagiarism.
- YOU WILL GET CAUGHT. It’s a simple Google search, don’t be dumb.
Just keep these in mind if you are looking for sources for some high school or college paper.
Reflection on Ching-In Chen’s The Heart’s Traffic
As other second–generation immigrant writers, Chin-In Chen addresses the American experience from a position of both belonging and not-belonging, which is clearly evident in her collection The Heart’s Traffic. The collection crosses embodies boundary-crossing beyond the typical use of plot (though that is present as well), and results in a comingled impression of life from the perspective of an immigrant and her family. As with many poetry collections, the evidence of the collection’s conceptual identity (in this case, border-crossing and existing in multiple realities concurrently) presents initially with the cover of the book. However, the reader will notice quickly that Chen’s collection follows through with these concepts in nearly every poem. Continue reading “Reflection on Ching-In Chen’s The Heart’s Traffic”
What Makes for a Successful Literary Submission?
So many submissions come in to the literary magazine I help staff – a relatively new literary magazine – that examining the framework of a “successful submission” becomes a lesson in self-reflection. From my experience working on various literary journals, the submissions that find a way through the editorial process have similar characteristics, even though the journal, the editors, and the submissions may be vastly different. For the most part, this framework can relate across different literary journals with different scopes as well. At the broadest level, I see the framework resting upon awareness. Continue reading “What Makes for a Successful Literary Submission?”